NJ.com file photoSen. Robert Mendez, an advocate for the HUD program, called the grant an opportunity to create jobs while save taxpayer dollars and reducing families' household expenses.

NEW BRUNWSICK — Federal officials today awarded New Jersey a $5 million grant to develop regional economic plans for 13 northern counties to attract businesses and jobs to areas with solid residential communities and good transportation systems.

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shawn Donovan announced the award of a Sustainable Community Regional Planning Grant to the Rutgers University Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy in New Brunswick.

"Our nation's ability to compete in a global economy and create jobs is dependent upon how quickly and efficiently we can connect our workers and families to education and employment opportunities," Donovan said at a press conference in New Brunswick.

Since the recession of 2008, Donovan said, the houses losing the most in value were those farthest from transportation systems.

"This crisis was decades in the making. For years families faced brutal commutes. Households spent 52 cents of every dollar on transportation," he said.

Rutgers has spent two years working with NJ Transit and the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, which serve 13 northern counties.

This year the Bloustein School, which has also worked with several other agencies in Trenton to bring business to communities, applied for HUD funding for the North Jersey Sustainable Communities Consortium to develop a regional plan.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), an advocate for the HUD program, called the grant an opportunity to create jobs while saving taxpayer dollars and reducing families' household expenses.

"Our days of building mindless sprawl are over. This good planning will provide jobs and ensure people have a place to call home, to bring their families to," Menendez said during the press conference.

During the next two years, the Consortium, led by the Bloustein School, will gather information on communities' needs and resources, looking at several large including New Brunswick, Newark, Jersey City, and Elizabeth, along with smaller municipalities.

Toward the end of the second year and into the third year, plans will be developed for bringing in businesses and jobs, and improving transportation systems.

"The private sector wants to be located in a community that has the transportation to get their products to market and workers to their jobs," Menendez said.

HUD offered nearly $96 million in regional planning grants, and received over $500 million in funding requests. Only one in 10 applications received funds. New Jersey was picked because of the Rutgers' proposal and because of the state's commitment to transportation, Donovan said.

Donovan made the grant announcement in front of the $105 million New Brunswick redevelopment project to include a large-scale supermarket, hospital-run fitness center and a parking deck, all to be connected to the city train station.